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weight lifting

The other day at the gym, I got the pleasure of putting one of the regular guys to shame while working out my back in the free weight area. He had that look on his face that just screamed: “Wut. But you’re a girl.”

7 Weeks ago that would have never happened.

My husband is in law enforcement and he has a physical fitness test coming up in a few weeks, so a month ago when he came home from work and told me that he needed to get in the gym, I challenged myself to get in there with him!

I’ve basically done a 180 from the workouts I was used to doing (i.e. cardio, cardio, cardio, abs, cardio) and went to weight training 4-5 days a week for about an hour at a time. As a weight lifting noob, I was pretty self- conscious about being in the free weight area with all of the manly men. However, my husband was right there with me. We did the exercises together, he showed me proper form, and over the last month I have gotten a lot stronger!

I tell you all this because lifting weights has changed the way I view myself and my body.

I feel strong.

I feel powerful.

I feel like I can face any challenge and conquer it.

I can already see the changes my body is making to compensate for the damage I do to it in the weight room.

And that is really, really, cool.

I don’t know about you friend, but the hours I used to spend on the elliptical seem nearly ridiculous now. I never felt strong or powerful on the elliptical. The little emergency band that keeps you tethered to the machine was my mindset. I was a slave to cardio and to always eating at a caloric deficit. But now, I’m slowly increasing my caloric intake. All the research I’ve read tells me that it is impossibleto build muscle when eating at a caloric deficit.

To lift weights, to build muscle, we need to eat!

And eat well!

Since high school I would say that I ate a healthy balanced diet. Lean meats, lots of veggies, lots of fruit, almond milk (I can’t drink normal), whole wheat. I mean I ate really well! But a couple weeks ago, I stumbled across this blog and she was describing my life. She had always eaten pretty healthy, but wasn’t seeing the results she wanted. So she started tracking her macros (i.e. grams of protein, fat, & carbs).

So I went to a few of the different macro tracking websites: MacroFit,

The numbers these give you will be different! Take an average, pick the one you like the best and start there! All of my calorie estimates were almost 1200 calories more than I’d been eating, so I’m slowly working my way up to that! I’m currently at 1600 per day, but even getting that high is a struggle for me some days! My compensation for this is that I focus on my overall percentages of my macros. I’m eating 40% protein, 40% carbs, and 20% fat. So my goal every day is to eat those proportions of calories throughout one day!

And let me tell you….I feel awesome! I have energy, I’m not hungry all the time, I feel like my body is utilizing every single calorie I give it!

And this new weight lifting regimen coupled with my new found love of macro tracking has given me my biggest boost of confidence in years!

I feel sexy, confident, and beautiful!

So…what’s holding you back?

I challenge you to click on some of those links I posted, read about macro tracking, read about weight lifting! And then get out there and try it! Grab a girlfriend, boyfriend, husband, whoever and do it together. Commit to a lifestyle change that will give you both a huge boost of confidence and make you feel awesome!